Sun 10 May 2020:
Hundreds of Iraqis have gathered in central Baghdad for fresh anti-government protests demanding better living conditions and an overhaul of the country’s political system, just days after the formation of a new government.
The gathering in Tahrir Square on Sunday came after Mustafa al-Kadhimi, the country’s new prime minister, promised to release demonstrators arrested during the mass protests that erupted in October last year.
Following his first cabinet meeting, al-Kadhimi on Saturday also pledged justice and compensation to relatives of more than 550 people killed since the start of the popular demonstrations.
The prime minister was Iraq’s spy chief when the protests – the bloodiest in Iraq’s recent history – broke out, and his pledges came as calls spread on social media for renewed demonstrations on Sunday.
Sunday’s protests stretched to other areas, including Iraq’s southern city of al-Nasriya.
Al Jazeera’s Simona Foltyn, reporting from central Baghdad, said the gathering was the “most significant” since March 17, when a curfew was imposed in an attempt to stem the spread of the coronavirus.
“Since then, Tahrir Square has been virtually empty, with a few dozen people remaining in the tents that have been set up here,” she said.
Foltyn reported that “a few hundred people” had gathered in Tahrir Square as of 10:00 GMT, with some manning the barricades on top of Republican Bridge.
“It’s pretty small compared to what we saw in the early days of the protests … but people are still flocking to Tahrir Square so the numbers may rise throughout the day,” she added.
The formation of the new government came some six months after former Prime Minister Adel Abdul Mahdi, who has been leading a caretaker administration, resigned in the face of the mass protests calling for the departure of Iraq’s ruling elite accused of driving the country into dysfunction and economic ruin.
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